Companies often make large purchases, such as computers and vehicles, for business use. The book-value of these supplies decreases each year for tax purposes. This decrease in value is called depreciation. One method of calculating depreciation is straight-line depreciation, in which the value of the asset decreases by the same amount each year.

As an example consider a woman who starts a small contracting business. She purchases a new truck for $25,000. After five years, she estimates that she will be able to sell the truck for $8,000. The loss in value of the truck will therefore be $17,000, which is $3,400 per year for five years. The truck will be worth $21,600 after the first year; $18,200 after two years; $14,800 after three years; $11,400 after four years; and $8,000 at the end of five years. In this section we will consider specific kinds of sequences that will allow us to calculate depreciation, such as the truck’s value.

Terms of an Arithmetic Sequence

The values of the truck in the example form an arithmetic sequence because they change by a constant amount each year. Each term increases or decreases by the same constant value called the common difference of the sequence. For this sequence the common difference is –3,400.

The sequence below is another example of an arithmetic sequence. In this case, the constant difference is 3. You can choose any term of the sequence, and add 3 to find the subsequent term.

Writing Terms of Arithmetic Sequences

Now that we can recognize an arithmetic sequence, we will find the terms if we are given the first term and the common difference. The terms can be found by beginning with the first term and adding the common difference repeatedly. In addition, any term can also be found by plugging in the values of [latex]n[/latex] and [latex]d[/latex] into formula below.

[latex]{a}_{n}={a}_{1}+\left(n - 1\right)d[/latex]

Formulas for Arithmetic Sequences

Using Explicit Formulas for Arithmetic Sequences

We can think of an arithmetic sequence as a function on the domain of the natural numbers; it is a linear function because it has a constant rate of change. The common difference is the constant rate of change, or the slope of the function. We can construct the linear function if we know the slope and the vertical intercept.

[latex]{a}_{n}={a}_{1}+d\left(n - 1\right)[/latex]

To find the y-intercept of the function, we can subtract the common difference from the first term of the sequence. Consider the following sequence.

The common difference is [latex]-50[/latex] , so the sequence represents a linear function with a slope of [latex]-50[/latex] . To find the [latex]y[/latex] -intercept, we subtract [latex]-50[/latex] from [latex]200:200-\left(-50\right)=200+50=250[/latex] . You can also find the [latex]y[/latex] -intercept by graphing the function and determining where a line that connects the points would intersect the vertical axis.

Recall the slope-intercept form of a line is [latex]y=mx+b[/latex]. When dealing with sequences, we use [latex]{a}_{n}[/latex] in place of [latex]y[/latex] and [latex]n[/latex] in place of [latex]x[/latex]. If we know the slope and vertical intercept of the function, we can substitute them for [latex]m[/latex] and [latex]b[/latex] in the slope-intercept form of a line. Substituting [latex]-50[/latex] for the slope and [latex]250[/latex] for the vertical intercept, we get the following equation:

[latex]{a}_{n}=-50n+250[/latex]

We do not need to find the vertical intercept to write an explicit formula for an arithmetic sequence. Another explicit formula for this sequence is [latex]{a}_{n}=200 - 50\left(n - 1\right)[/latex] , which simplifies to [latex]{a}_{n}=-50n+250[/latex].

Find the Number of Terms in an Arithmetic Sequence

Explicit formulas can be used to determine the number of terms in a finite arithmetic sequence. We need to find the common difference, and then determine how many times the common difference must be added to the first term to obtain the final term of the sequence.

In the following video lesson, we present a recap of some of the concepts presented about arithmetic sequences up to this point.

Solving Application Problems with Arithmetic Sequences

In many application problems, it often makes sense to use an initial term of [latex]{a}_{0}[/latex] instead of [latex]{a}_{1}[/latex]. In these problems we alter the explicit formula slightly to account for the difference in initial terms. We use the following formula:
[latex]{a}_{n}={a}_{0}+dn[/latex]

Arithmetic Series

Just as we studied special types of sequences, we will look at special types of series. Recall that an arithmetic sequence is a sequence in which the difference between any two consecutive terms is the common difference, [latex]d[/latex]. The sum of the terms of an arithmetic sequence is called an arithmetic series. We can write the sum of the first [latex]n[/latex] terms of an arithmetic series as:

[latex]{S}_{n}={a}_{1}+\left({a}_{1}+d\right)+\left({a}_{1}+2d\right)+...+\left({a}_{n}-d\right)+{a}_{n}[/latex].

We can also reverse the order of the terms and write the sum as

[latex]{S}_{n}={a}_{n}+\left({a}_{n}-d\right)+\left({a}_{n}-2d\right)+...+\left({a}_{1}+d\right)+{a}_{1}[/latex].

If we add these two expressions for the sum of the first [latex]n[/latex] terms of an arithmetic series, we can derive a formula for the sum of the first [latex]n[/latex] terms of any arithmetic series.

[latex]\begin{align}{S}_{n}&={a}_{1}+\left({a}_{1}+d\right)+\left({a}_{1}+2d\right)+...+\left({a}_{n}-d\right)+{a}_{n} \\ +{S}_{n}&={a}_{n}+\left({a}_{n}-d\right)+\left({a}_{n}-2d\right)+...+\left({a}_{1}+d\right)+{a}_{1} \\ \hline 2{S}_{n}&=\left({a}_{1}+{a}_{n}\right)+\left({a}_{1}+{a}_{n}\right)+...+\left({a}_{1}+{a}_{n}\right) \end{align}[/latex]

Because there are [latex]n[/latex] terms in the series, we can simplify this sum to

[latex]2{S}_{n}=n\left({a}_{1}+{a}_{n}\right)[/latex].

We divide by 2 to find the formula for the sum of the first [latex]n[/latex] terms of an arithmetic series.

[latex]{S}_{n}=\dfrac{n\left({a}_{1}+{a}_{n}\right)}{2}[/latex]

This is generally referred to as the Partial Sum of the series.

 

Key Equations

recursive formula for nth term of an arithmetic sequence	[latex]{a}_{n}={a}_{n - 1}+d \text{ for } n\ge 2[/latex]
explicit formula for nth term of an arithmetic sequence	[latex]{a}_{n}={a}_{1}+d\left(n - 1\right)[/latex]
sum of the first [latex]n[/latex] terms of an arithmetic series	[latex]{S}_{n}=\dfrac{n\left({a}_{1}+{a}_{n}\right)}{2}[/latex]

Key Concepts

• An arithmetic sequence is a sequence where the difference between any two consecutive terms is a constant.
• The constant between two consecutive terms is called the common difference.
• The common difference is the number added to any one term of an arithmetic sequence that generates the subsequent term.
• The terms of an arithmetic sequence can be found by beginning with the initial term and adding the common difference repeatedly.
• A recursive formula for an arithmetic sequence with common difference [latex]d[/latex] is given by [latex]{a}_{n}={a}_{n - 1}+d,n\ge 2[/latex].
• As with any recursive formula, the initial term of the sequence must be given.
• An explicit formula for an arithmetic sequence with common difference [latex]d[/latex] is given by [latex]{a}_{n}={a}_{1}+d\left(n - 1\right)[/latex].
• An explicit formula can be used to find the number of terms in a sequence.
• In application problems, we sometimes alter the explicit formula slightly to [latex]{a}_{n}={a}_{0}+dn[/latex].
• The sum of the terms in a sequence is called a series.
• A common notation for series is called summation notation, which uses the Greek letter sigma to represent the sum.
• The sum of the terms in an arithmetic sequence is called an arithmetic series.
• The sum of the first [latex]n[/latex] terms of an arithmetic series can be found using a formula.

Glossary

arithmetic sequence a sequence in which the difference between any two consecutive terms is a constant

common difference the difference between any two consecutive terms in an arithmetic sequence

arithmetic series the sum of the terms in an arithmetic sequence

nth partial sum the sum of the first [latex]n[/latex] terms of a sequence

series the sum of the terms in a sequence

summation notation a notation for series using the Greek letter sigma; it includes an explicit formula and specifies the first and last terms in the series